Flint under pressure from his own board

Australian Broadcasting Authority members have sought legal advice on how to rein in its chairman David Flint.

Authority members have been advised that only by seeking a federal court injunction could they stop Professor Flint presiding over an investigation into the ABC, the Herald has been told.

Professor Flint was seen to be biased against the broadcaster based on references in his book The Twilight of the Elites, published last year.

"There are QCs' opinions all over the place here, but Flint is bullet proof," an ABA source said.

Last night on the ABC's 7.30 Report Professor Flint said that he had sought a legal opinion on whether it would be appropriate for him to preside over the investigation into complaints about the ABC's bias. He also said an ABA board member had previously raised their concerns with him.

The concerns have come to light as questions have been raised about the adequacy of Professor Flint's investigation into Telstra's sponsorship of the Alan Jones program on Sydney talkback station 2GB. Professor Flint wrote to Jones in 1999 praising his on-air opinions.

The Federal Opposition yesterday called for Professor Flint's resignation over the letter, disclosed on the ABC's Media Watch on Monday. But the chairman told the Herald he was under no pressure from the Government to resign.

Authority members were advised that if Professor Flint did not stand aside during investigations where he might be seen to have a conflict of interest, there was little under the law that other board members could do to force him.

Professor Flint's term expires in October and cannot be renewed. Members hope that by then the authority will be subsumed in a larger regulatory agency that combines it with the Australian Communications Authority, which regulates broadcasting frequencies.

The Friends of the ABC yesterday expressed its concerns about the appropriateness of Professor Flint overseeing an investigation last year into complaints made by the former communications minister Richard Alston about the ABC's coverage of the Iraq war.

A spokeswoman for the Friends of the ABC, Margaret O'Connor, said: "The Friends are asking whether it is appropriate for Professor Flint to chair an investigation into the ABC . . . given that Alston appointed him directly [to the ABA]."

The authority ruled this month that Telstra's deal with 2GB did not breach cash-for-comment restrictions because Jones had no personal commercial agreement with Telstra that would require him to abide by disclosure rules before talking about the company on air.

However, a draft Telstra marketing plan leaked to Media Watch showed Telstra was willing to spend $1.2 million a year in an arrangement that allowed the company to write Telstra "messages", which would then be worked into Jones's radio scripts.

Professor Flint told ABC radio yesterday that he strongly supported the ABC, had no conflict of interest over the investigation and that he, not other members, had requested legal advice about chairing the investigation.

The Opposition spokesman for communications, Lindsay Tanner, said the chairman's letter to Jones showed "once and for all that Professor Flint is not fit to run our national broadcasting regulator".

A spokeswoman for the Minister for Communications, Daryl Williams, said he remained confident "in the ABA".